Our mission is to provide free tools for learning Chinese. This series explores idioms and proverbs, meaningful phrases worth knowing. Today’s idiom: 「寧折不彎」.
For this session, we will be discussing the idiom 「寧折不彎」. See below for its meaning and practical usage.
It refers to the fact that when poplar wood is subjected to external force, it will only break but not bend or deform. Later it was used to describe the tendency to rather die than surrender or compromise.
The Mandarin pronunciation of this idiom is :
níng shé bù wān
while its Cantonese pinyin is :
ning4 jit3 bat1 waan1/waang1
Chinese idioms are vast in number, each carrying unique meanings and usages. With such variety, there’s a lot to learn and appreciate. Hopefully, these resources will aid you on your journey to mastering Chinese.
